The Year Was 1970
by dog with a blog
Summary: AU where the team are just regular teenagers during the Vietnam war. This story was completely inspired by the cover image/my profile photo, I didn't draw it and have no idea who did but all creds go to them:) The story will mainly revolve around the relationship between Wally and Artemis but other pairings and characters will be featured as well
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Young Justice or any of its characters

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The year was 1970. Artemis stepped off of the bus hesitantly as she took in the scenery that was going to be her new home. After a whole summer of travel it was going to be weird having a stable home for the next school year. It wasn't her idea to go back to school, but there was no way her uncle was going to let her, "travel around with a bunch of smelly hippies when she should be finishing her education".

After their dad had been sent to Vietnam, Artemis and her sister Jade had nobody keeping them from leaving, so that's what they did. Ever since they had gotten into the wrong bus and found themselves at some war protest, they just kind of went with it. They met some really cool people who had told them all about their cause and how it was their job to "fight the power", and all that hippie crap, and it just kinda stuck.

For the first few months it had been just Artemis and Jade hopping from bus to bus, campground to campground, peace march to peace march, and it had been nice. It was just Artemis and Jade against the world like always, but this time they were free from their father. All that changed when Artemis woke up one morning to find the tent empty and a note saying "I'm sorry Artemis, but I have to do this on my own, I'll come back for you". So much for Artemis and Jade against the word.

Artemis didn't show it, but she was kind of relieved when her Uncle Oliver's girlfriend Dinah spotted her at some peace rally in New York, it had been hard being on her own. Dinah was an extremely beautiful women that was in her mid 20's, only a couple years younger than her uncle. She had pretty blonde hair and bright eyes, with a kind face. Dinah was a people-person, she had a way about her that convinced all that she met to trust her, Artemis assumed that this was why Oliver had sent her instead of himself. It wasn't that Oliver was untrustworthy, he just wasn't the type of guy you could knit sweaters and talk about your problems with. Artemis had no idea how she had found her, but then again Oliver was one of the richest men in the US so it wasn't all that surprising that he had found a way.

Dinah had taken her to some coffee shop to "catch up", which really meant convincing her to come stay with them for the school year so that she could finish her education. Artemis fought Dinah on it for a long time, but eventually caved knowing that being 16 Oliver could just legally gain custody and force her to come so it was just better to do it the easy way. Dinah asked about where Jade was, but didn't press when Artemis told her she didn't know. Dinah knew that there was no way they could get her to come with them considering she was 19 and could legally go wherever she wanted.

Dinah told her that she could have another 2 weeks and no longer. She wrote down their address on a napkin and hugged her goodbye. Artemis didn't know why she trusted Artemis to come, but then again if she didn't Oliver could find her again just as easily so she thought best not to question it.

After Dinah left, Artemis spent the next 2 weeks enjoying her short-lived freedom. But, eventually the time came where she had to return to being a 16 year old girl who went to school and did what she was told. So that's when she caught a bus that was going to some speech an important general was giving about the progress in Vietnam in the city her Uncle lived in. The others on the bus were planning on protesting, and she hadn't decided if she was going to join them for one last stroke of rebellion yet.

After Artemis had stepped out of the bus, she glanced at her reflection in the window. Her incredibly long blonde hair was underneath a thin brown headband that stretched across her forehead. She straightened her short green crop top that she had paired with some old washed out levi's that were now covered in rips and the occasional peace-sign iron, the jeans were tucked into her brown fringe-covered boots. The jeans had been Jade's, one of the few things she had left of her sister, so they were slightly big, the only thing holding them up was a brown sweatshirt that was tied around her waist. Her accessory of choice was a white armband that was patterned with brown arrows, Jade had found it at a swap meet and bought it for her, it was one of Artemis' favorite things she owned.

Artemis straightened her fringe-covered bag that contained all of the few things she owned as she decided which way to go. She could go right and head straight to her uncle's house, or she could go left and join the protest. After a short hesitation, she decided on going left, it's not like her aunt and uncle were going to miss her for a few more hours.

* * *

Wally shifted his weight as he anxiously listened to the speech. After his Uncle was drafted into the war he had been attending all that he could, wanting to make sure he didn't miss out on hearing anything that could tell him more about when his uncle might be coming home. Without his Uncle Barry around, it had been hard on Wally and his Aunt Iris, money was tight and eventually they lost the house. Luckily, their good friends Oliver and Dinah had been kind enough to allow them to stay in the guest house of their mansion, which had become their home for the past 6 months. Oliver was 2 years older than the drafting age, so he didn't have to worry about it. Barry was not so lucky.

Either way, life wasn't so bad for Wally and his Aunt. Barry wrote as often as he could which turned out to be at least once a month. Also, the guest house was extremely nice and far enough from the main property to have some privacy, but close enough to go over whenever they wanted. They often had dinners together at least once a week on the main property, and it was nice for Iris to have friends like Dinah and Oliver around to support her. Even Wally became good friends with their adopted son Roy after only a few short weeks of living there. Wally and Roy had already known each other from school, but hadn't been very close considering Roy had been a couple grades above him. Even though Roy is now out of high school, he will still be living with Oliver and Dinah once he attends school at a local college in the Fall so that was cool.

Speaking of Roy, Wally had no idea where he and Wally's best friend Dick where, they had left to go grab some food a while ago which Wally was extremely grateful for because he was starving, but then again Wally was always hungry. Anyways, it had been some time since they left and Wally was thinking about going to look for them when…

* * *

Artemis had just reached the other protesters that were stationed in the back of the crowd and were holding up the usual signs and chanting when she saw him… Roy. She hadn't seen Oliver and Dinah's adopted son in a long time, but she could recognize that red hair and brooding scowl anywhere. He was walking with some kid with jet-black hair and the brightest blue eyes she had ever seen. The kid couldn't have been any older than 14. After a moment of watching them she realized that they were heading her way. There was no way Roy was going to catch her lingering around town and drag her to Oliver's house before she could spend her last few hours of freedom. She actually had no idea if Roy knew about her coming to town, but she decided not to take the chance, so she began frantically pushing through the crowd in front of her, hoping to make a stealthy escape.

Artemis continued pushing through the crowd while glancing back to see if she had been spotted when she bumped into some block-head in front of her, and before she knew it she was headed straight for the ground…

* * *

He felt something run into him from the behind, so he quickly turned around to see a girl in the midst of falling. He skillfully grabbed her wrist and pulled her up before she could hit the ground.

Once the girl had dusted herself off and looked up at him he realized that she was the most beautiful girl he had ever seen. She had extremely long and bright blonde hair, that glimmered next to her slightly tan skin. Her eyes were a deep grey, like a storm cloud in the midst of July. For a moment he just stared at her, completely forgetting where he was and what had just happened.

* * *

Artemis looked up at the thing that nearly knocked her down to realize that it was a boy with bright orange hair and freckles with piercing green eyes, he couldn't have been much older than her. She looked down at his light blue plaid button up with sleeves rolled up above his elbow to reveal a watch on his left wrist. She also took in the grey slacks the button up was tucked into. Instantly she rolled her eyes at the kid that was obviously a huge prick.

"Nice going asshole you nearly knocked me down", she glared at him harder, wondering if he knew how hard he was staring.

He blinked a few times before replying, "w-what", he stuttered as he began to snap out of his trance.

Artemis let out a huge breath as she retorted, "You heard me, what are you stupid or something?", she rolled her eyes so hard she thought they might never come back down.

He contemplated this, "What no I…wait a minute you ran into me!", he finally snapped out of his hypnotic state as he crossed his arms, "If anything you should be thanking me for saving you from falling to the floor!".

Artemis smirked, getting a kick out of the red-head's obvious annoyance until she remembered where she was, "whatever I don't have time to argue with some prick about whether or not he knocked me down all day", she pushed him aside and continued through the crowd.

The boy stepped aside, letting her through, "what the hell is your problem?", he retorted to the backside of the figure that was getting further way by the second.

Artemis glanced back, prepared to give the ginger-haired asshole the finger when she spotted Roy and the dark haired boy approaching him out of the corner of her eye. She quickly turned around and walked as fast as she could, hoping Roy didn't recognize her.

* * *

Wally stared at the quick-tempered girl as she sauntered away through the crown. What the hell just happened? and who the hell was that?

"Hey who's the hippie?" Dick was now behind him munching on some popcorn, Roy followed close behind and was also staring at the girl, as if deciding whether or not he knew her.

Wally plunged his hand into the popcorn bag grabbing as much as he could, still staring at the back of the now far away girl, "I have no idea…"

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 **Review and let me know if I should continue, as of right now I probably will, suggestions are welcome!:)**


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Young Justice or any of its characters

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Artemis woke up in the softest bed you could imagine. As she sat up and stretched she was at first alarmed, considering she was so used to sleeping in a tent, or the back of some guys van, and even before she was on the road her bed at home wasn't the most comfortable place to sleep. Glancing around the enormous room and at all the fancy furniture alarmed her even more, until she remembered that she was in her Uncle Oliver's house and this was her new room. She sighed as she flopped back down on the bed, trying to stop the smile that was beginning to spread across her face.

After wandering the streets and exploring her new city, Artemis had decided to pull out her Uncle's address from the crumpled up napkin she kept in her bag and began reading the directions that had been scribbled on the back side. She had a difficult time at first considering the directions started from the bus stop and she was far from there at this point, but she eventually found her way.

Once Artemis had found the mansion and walked up what must have been the longest driveway in the world, she was greeted by her Uncle Ollie who ran out and hugged her as soon as she knocked on the giant door. Oliver was a handsome man in his late 20's who had short dirty-blonde hair, clear blue eyes, and a scruffy goatee. As much as she hated to admit it, she was really happy to see him, Oliver had been more kind and loving than her own father had ever been.

Once he had brought her inside and Dinah had run down the stairs to greet her there were all sorts of questions, like "did you find the house ok?", "why didn't you call we could have sent you a car?", and "we have dinner almost ready do you want anything to eat?", and all that concerned crap.

Artemis responded by telling them how tired she was and that all she wanted to do was sleep, so they led her to the room that they had picked out for her. After Dinah had pointed out where everything that she might possibly need was, and Oliver told her that if there was anything she needed she could come to their room that was down the hall, Artemis finally got them out of the room and passed out on the bed, not even bothering to put on the silk pajamas Dinah pointed out to be in the wardrobe near the window, but instead taking off her headband, armband, pants and shoes and slept in just her tank top and underwear.

Now that it was morning and she had a full night's sleep, Artemis had realized the changes that had happened in her life within just one night. She had gone from sleeping in rusty old vans that smelled of weed, barely ever having a place to shower, and only having the food that the other travelers were able to share, to living in a literal mansion, having as much food as she could ever possibly eat, and having her very own shower that she could use whenever she wanted.

Speaking of showers, Artemis decided now was a good time to take one considering the small sample of perfume that she kept in her bag was the only reason why she didn't smell like absolute garbage.

Once she opened the door in her room that Dinah had told her was the bathroom she had to take a moment to take it all in. It was the nicest bathroom she had ever seen, most all of it was covered with marble and every single shelf and drawer was stocked with all types of lotions, perfumes, soaps, makeup, and everything anybody could ever need in a bathroom, literally, she checked! And standing off to the side was the biggest and most incredible shower Artemis had ever seen, while staring in awe all she could think was how could anyone ever have enough money to do this?

After taking the longest shower in the history of showers, Artemis rummaged through her bag to find a t-shirt that Jade had tie-dyed for her (Artemis had never been the artistic type) and some old bell bottom jeans that she slipped on. She hated putting on her barely clean clothes after such a long shower, but the only clothes in the room were pajamas, Dinah didn't know what size Artemis was so she decided to buy her some clothes once Artemis was there to go shopping with her. Not that Artemis needed any new clothes, she was just fine with 4 tops and 3 pairs of bottoms she owned thank you very much! But it would be nice to have some clothes that didn't have holes or smell of weed.

Once Artemis had tamed her long hair into a low-loose ponytail, she noticed her stomach was grumbling so she decided to head downstairs hoping that 11 o'clock wasn't too late for breakfast in the Queen household.

Artemis finally found the dining room after at least 5 minutes of searching. The table was filled with all sorts of different breakfast foods that made Artemis' mouth water, there were two women sitting at the table one of them being Dinah, and the other was a pretty red-haired woman who looked to be about Dinah's age. Artemis noticed that Oliver is there, but she assumed it was because he was at work.

"Good morning Artemis, I hope you're hungry", Dinah gestured to the seat next to her, "come sit down we have plenty of food"

Artemis hesitantly approached the table, until she finally took her seat next to Dinah, glancing at the red-headed woman, who was smiling kindly.

Dinah noticed Artemis' unfamiliarity and realized she had yet to introduce her, "Oh and this is our good friend Iris, she lives in the guest house with her nephew Wally, Iris this is Oliver's niece Artemis".

Iris' smile brightened, "Nice to meet you Artemis I've heard a lot about you, and may I say you're even prettier than I expected".

Artemis felt her cheeks get hot, "t-thanks nice to meet you too", she tried to give her most friendliest smile.

Dinah, now satisfied with the introduction, began making a plate for Artemis, "you better eat while you can, once Roy and Wally come in to eat there won't be much food left", this comment made Iris giggle, as if the boys eating habits were some type of inside joke.

Artemis took a moment to admire the full plate that was now in front of her, before she began scarfing it down. She hadn't realized how hungry she was until now. She began to take a swig of the orange juice Dinah had poured for her when her cousin and some orange-haired boy walked in. It took her a moment to realize that the orange-haired boy was none other than the boy she bumped into at the speech yesterday.

Upon this realization she nearly choked on her orange juice. Hearing this the boy, whose name was apparently Wally, stopped in his tracks and glanced up at Artemis. Clearly Wally recognized her because he stood there in shock for at least a good few seconds.

Roy didn't seem to notice the obvious stare down because he walked right past a shocked Wally and up to her seat at the table, ruffling her hair, "hey little cuz good to see you're still awkward as ever", taking the seat next to her obviously he was referring to her nearly dying from orange juice.

At this Artemis broke her eye contact with Wally and began to turn her attention to Roy, "hey big cuz glad to see you're still as big of a jerk as ever", she smirked, punching his arm as he glared.

Wally hesitantly sat down at the seat next to his Aunt, staring at Artemis as he sat down. Artemis glanced at him as he sat, but tried not to pay much attention to him, instead she turned to Dinah, "I'm pretty full, do you think I can be excused, I need to go get some fresh air", Artemis could feel Wally staring daggers at her.

Dinah smiled, "of course, you can leave your plate at the table and I was hoping we could go shopping in a little bit if that's okay with you".

Artemis contemplated this until she decided that she didn't have anything better to do, "yeah sure I'll be outside if you need me", she pushed her chair in and then began walking to the front door, hoping that she was going in the right direction. Well that was awkward, she thought to herself as she walked out the door

* * *

Well that was awkward, Wally thought as he left the dining room to head back to the guest house. He hoped that he wouldn't see what Dinah had told him was Artemis, after the mysterious girl had left the table. He didn't want to have to deal with her bad attitude and annoying comments, but then again he kinda wanted to see her on his way back to the house even if she would probably just yell at him for "knocking her over" again.

Fortunately….or unfortunately? Whatever, either way he didn't see the angry blonde on his walk back to the house and he had no idea if that made him feel sad or relieved. He decided that he was obviously delusional for even considering feeling sad about not seeing Artemis and decided that the only feeling he felt was relief, yeah definitely relief.

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 **Sorry if this chapter is a little boring, it was mostly about setting everything up, next chapter I will be introducing some more characters from the team;)**

 **In the meantime please review, comments or suggestions are welcome!:)**


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Young Justice or any of its characters

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Artemis and Dinah were walking down the street of the nearby shopping center with at least 10 different bags in tow. They had been to so many high end clothing stores, Artemis had lost count. To be honest the whole trip had been a blur of trying stuff on and Dinah telling her how, "absolutely adorable", she looked. Artemis wasn't all that into clothes so she just kind of went with it, she was really just enjoying spending time with Dinah, who seemed to be having a blast picking out all of the clothes.

Dinah was chit chatting away about how green was "such a pretty color on Artemis", when she turned her attention to a man that looked to be in his mid 30's and a young girl that looked about Artemis' age that were walking by.

Dinah immediately walked up to them and introduced Artemis, "Artemis this is my good friend John and his niece Megan, John and Megan, this is Oliver's niece Artemis".

John smiled, "It is nice to finally meet you Artemis, I have heard many good things about you".

Artemis nodded, "Nice to meet you too". John and dinah began talking about something she didn't really care to hear, so Artemis turned her attention to Megan.

The girl had brownish-redish hair held back my a red headband and light freckles dusted over her nose. She was wearing a long sleeved cream colored blouse with a paisley pattern and puffy sleeves that was tucked into a maroon colored pencil skirt that came up above her waist. she paired it with white knee socks and red flats. She was extremely pretty and Artemis couldn't help but feel jealous, Artemis had never really thought of herself as pretty.

Megan was beaming at Artemis, "So are you going to be attending the local high school?"

Artemis took a second to process this, "Uh-yeah I guess".

"Oh really me too!", Megan said as if it was the greatest news she had ever heard, "I'm so glad to have a familiar face going there, I just moved here a month ago and I don't really know anybody, so I was hoping maybe we could be friends ya know if you want..." Megan blushed and looked down at her shoes, hoping she hadn't just embarrassed herself.

Originally Artemis assumed she wouldn't like Megan considering how pretty she was and assuming she was rich as well based off of how close Dinah and her Uncle seemed to be, she thought for sure Megan would be snotty and stuck up. But after just a brief moment of talking to her, Artemis could tell that she was really sweet and even though she was rich, they would be good friends, "Yeah sure I would like that", Artemis smiled.

Megan looked up from her shoes beaming and pulled Artemis into the tightest hug she had ever felt.

Artemis wasn't the hugging type, but after a moment she gave Megan a light pat on the back. After Megan had pulled away, her Uncle John called her over, "We must be returning home now Megan, it was nice meeting you Artemis, and a pleasure seeing you as well Dinah".

Artemis and Dinah waved goodbye as John and Megan left, "Well you two seemed to hit it off".

"I don't think there's anybody that couldn't get along with her".

Dinah smiled, proud of her kind-of niece for making a friend, "c'mon let's go home". She linked her arm with Artemis and towed her along to the car.

Home, Artemis thought, now that's gonna take some getting used to.

* * *

Artemis had been heading upstairs after her and Dinah's shopping trip when she noticed a certain red head coming down, along with the dark-haired boy from the other day. "Hey carrot-top are ya still pushin' down random girls at public events?".

He stopped walking and glared at her, "Okay first of all you ran into me and second of all, who even are you?!".

She rolled her eyes, "You should already know who I am by now, I'm Oliver's niece".

"I know that, I meant like where did you come from or I don't know maybe why are you here?"

Artemis smirked, "That's my business". With a swish of her ponytail, she continued up the stairs, as if he wasn't even there.

The dark haired boy called after her, "I'm Dick by the way".

Artemis stopped to glance back at the younger boy, "Nice to meet you Dick, I'm Artemis".

Dick smiled deviously, "Oh I know who you are Wally told me all about how-".

Wally had grabbed Dicks mouth, shushing him before he gave anything away. Artemis laughed, and continued up the stairs.

Wally stood there for a moment, staring after the infuriating girl with the long hair, until he finally followed Dick down the stairs.

* * *

Artemis entered her room to find a girl with raven-black hair and clear-blue eyes, sitting on her bed, reading a book.

Artemis stepped towards the girl, skeptical of what she was seeing, "Zatanna?"

* * *

A month ago, Artemis had been cold and alone. Jade had left just a few days before, and Artemis had been hitchhiking on a highway for hours.

After one of the guys in the last group she had been with, got a little too friendly Artemis had immediately demanded they let her out of the car. Once they did, Artemis had started walking, having no idea where she was, she immediately regretted her decision. She could have at the very least stayed until they had gotten into the next town, but no Artemis just had to prove a point on a highway in the middle of nowhere.

Around the 3rd hour into desperately trying to find a ride, a bright yellow volkswagen van began slowing down in the lane beside her.

As it slowed she could hear a voice from within it, "C'mon Troy she's all alone, we have room for one more".

"Fine, but she better not be a weirdo".

The van came to a stop next to her, a pretty girl with raven-black hair and clear-blue eyes was leaning through the passenger window from the back seat. The girl smiled, "Hey where ya headed?"

Artemis smirked, "Anywhere but here".

After that Artemis and Zatanna had been inseparable. They went everywhere together, almost like what Artemis and Jade had, the difference being Zatanna never left. Zatanna was a year younger than Artemis, but was way more mature than could be expected. Zatanna had also been traveling for the summer, she told Artemis how much she loved her dad but how overprotective he was and how often he was working and never had time for her. Artemis had nodded her head in understanding, but in reality, she had no idea what having a loving father was like.

Zatanna told her dad that she was going to stay with her grandmother for the summer, but traveled instead. She planned on heading home after a month, but after experiencing what life could offer without being cooped up in the house waiting for her dad to come home all the time, she never looked back. Zatanna often called her dad, pretending she was with her grandmother. Zatanna had no idea what she was going to tell her dad once summer was over, all she knew for sure was that she wasn't going back to him after she had tasted freedom for the first time.

The day Artemis left to go live with her Uncle, was a tough one. Zatanna and Artemis had both been on the verge of tears as they hugged each other goodbye. Artemis gave Zatanna a copy of her new address and told her that if she ever needed anything to go there, and that was it. Artemis hadn't seen Zatanna since, until now.

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 **I'm not sure when the next chapter will be out, but I'm hoping that it will be soon!**

 **In the meantime you can check out my other stories (I Remember & The Art of Denial), which are both spitfire as well.**

 **Please review, comments and suggestions are welcome:)**


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